During the ups and downs on the other side of Myanmar, Qi Yiming made two more arms business deals in China. Because of the brilliance of Chinese weapons on the battlefield, coupled with Shenghua Company's active marketing and active market development, the growth rate was extremely high. Quickly, in just a few years, China's arms exports have reached the second place in the world, second only to the United States. The Fl Xiaolong, 82 anti-ship missiles, Type 0 AIp submarines, -0 self-propelled rocket launchers, NHT106, etc. are all Chinese weapons that are familiar to people in the industry. They not only have excellent performance, but are also low-priced. Therefore, the research report of the Stockholm International Peace Organization believes that , Chinese weapons may not be the most outstanding in terms of performance, but the price/performance ratio is undoubtedly the highest. These people also analyzed some of the reasons. First, China hopes to attract customers and open up markets at low prices. Second, China's material prices, labor costs, and scientific research costs are relatively low, so it is inherently cheaper than other countries.
Shenghua's current status is a bit similar to the three-in-one of AVIC, Precision Machinery Import and Export Corporation and Poly in later generations. Because it is particularly dedicated to operating the international market, it already has a lot of marketing channels and customer relationships, even if it is Some products are not manufactured by Shenghua's subsidiaries. Shenghua also sells products for other military-industrial companies, and of course will draw commissions as appropriate. Some companies are also happy to have someone help them find orders and focus on product development and manufacturing. In particular, some weak companies want to register with Shenghua.
The first big deal during this period was made by Zhao Jinsong, deputy manager of Shenghua. This arms dealer, who was already well-known in the industry, personally went to Algeria to sell them weapons. Algeria had not originally planned to buy them. Chinese equipment could not withstand Zhao Jinsong's hard work and the good reputation of Chinese weapons. The Algerians finally gave up their original plan to order from the Soviet Union and purchased Chinese weapons instead.
Algeria has traditionally tended to purchase Soviet weapons, and their army is almost exclusively Soviet-made equipment. Although they occasionally purchase Chinese weapons, the quantities are not very large. This order mainly includes 4l helicopters produced by Hafei, 26 VNl tracked armored vehicles, and 20 VT-IA main battle tanks.
In order not to offend the Soviets, the cunning Algerians held an open bidding event and specially set up a shooting range to display the weapons of China and the Soviet Union and make centralized comparisons.
Helicopters are mainly used by the Algerian police, so serviceability, ease of operation and price requirements are relatively high. Factors such as armed capabilities and defensive properties do not need to be considered. In terms of price, the Mi-Li Harbin helicopter produced by the Soviets is actually cheaper, but because it is an old model from the late 1950s, its performance cannot be compared with the Z-9, especially during the evaluation. The plane was actually stuck. In terms of maintenance time and repair difficulty, the Zhiya easily won. In the end, the Algerians believed that although the Mi 2 was cheap, the service life cost plus maintenance costs and parts costs might ultimately be more expensive than the Zhi, so they chose the more advanced Zhi. .
It is said that China spent 100 million US dollars to buy patents and production licenses from France. The French did not expect that the Chinese could export them so quickly after learning them, and they sold them cheaper than them, and even the performance was inferior. There is no gap, which makes the French lament that they are trapped in a cocoon.
Of course, if it were in another dimension, it took China a long time to completely master Zhi, and it would only start large-scale manufacturing after the 21st century. In addition, it would have to meet its own domestic needs in large quantities. By that time, the French would have already developed new machines. It's pretty cool, so I don't actually suffer.
The direct selling price of each police model is US$300,000, which is extremely cheap even for light helicopters. Including the mess of parts and other parts, the helicopter procurement cost a total of US$400 million.
The appearance of the VNll tracked armored vehicle is somewhat similar to the Soviet-made BNP series, but the turret used is a new turret independently developed by the base. It can be equipped with Red Arrow anti-armor missiles, Hongying anti-aircraft missiles, etc. on both sides, greatly increasing its practicality. . In addition, the unique chassis design also enables it to have the ability to float without preparation, but it does not have much effect on Algeria, which is mainly desert terrain.
Naturally, the one competing with VNll is the Soviet Union's BNP2. In fact, the data gap between the two is not big, and the prices are relatively close. However, in terms of sophistication, BNP2 inherits the stupid, big, dark, and thick appearance of the Soviet-made weapons, and is prone to damage. There are minor problems, it is inconvenient to repair, and the human-machine function and user interface are not very good. On the contrary, the VNll is easy to operate, and the soldiers have a better experience in using it.
In addition, in the firepower test, there is a big gap between the BNP2 3mm cannon and similar weapons of the VNll. First of all, the rate of fire control is less than that of the VNll, which is not flexible enough. The barrel is prone to overheating, and the true rate of fire is also low. Not nearly as fast as VNlI. In terms of strike effect, VNll's 3mm armor-piercing projectiles can penetrate the frontal armor of tanks such as T55, and can also be penetrated on the sides or rear of tanks such as T2, but they are much less powerful.
The same is true for mobility, because the base brought better engine technology to China, so the engines produced in China, whether it is vehicle engines orAircraft engines and ship turbines can reach or even exceed the level of first-class engine producing countries such as the United States and Germany. Therefore, a good power system gives VNl far better maneuverability than BNP2.
Because the gap was too obvious in comparison, the Algerians could only regretfully say sorry to the Soviets. In the end, they purchased 26 VNlIs at a unit price of US$660,000, and the contract value was approximately US$27.1 billion.
In the final competition of main battle tanks, the Soviets did not even compete and actively announced their withdrawal from the bidding. Because they had inspected the NHT106 Rhino-1 tank purchased by Iraq and thought the design was excellent. It was not only durable and durable, but also had impressive firepower and protection. The Soviet armored forces also fought with the Chinese armored forces. The horror of the Chinese Type 99 made them shudder. It also proved that China was one step ahead of the Soviet Union in the production of main battle tanks. This VT-IA looks exactly like the Type 99. The Soviets naturally know that China cannot export the Type 99 to foreign countries, but as long as it has half the capabilities of the Type 99, the T2 is no match.
When selling weapons, Maozi has always liked to sell the monkey version. They have done a lot of castration when exporting the equipment, so that they have repeatedly seen T2 being easily exploded by others. They are not willing to make this fool again, and T2 is their export focus. After the general is announced, they will stop doing this business.
Without competitors, VT-IA naturally successfully obtained orders. The sale to Algeria is also the second export record of this Chinese tank. The first sale was to the Thai Army. Norinco, the manufacturer of VT-IA, also has high hopes for this tank. Similar products in the world are either much more expensive than VT-IA with a unit price of UU 10,000, or T2 cannot compete with it. Maybe it will be a long time in the future. For a period of time, the VTA will be the cheapest third-generation main battle tank in the world.
This tank is basically based on the Type 3. It has made major modifications to the on-board electronic equipment, especially the night combat capability. Because China is already the world's largest producer and designer of electronic components, the VT-IA uses Basically, it is the cheapest and low-end fire control computer, infrared imager, etc., but because the system integration capabilities are really amazing, Norinco has made this cheap and powerful main battle tank.
However, due to the emergence of VT-IA, the tank most affected is the NHT106 Rhino I tank they previously exported. As a quasi-third-generation main battle tank, although it cannot be said to be completely unable to defeat VT-IA, it is still a bit inferior. Hard work. In addition, VT-IA is not much more expensive than NHT106, so Norinco itself is not very optimistic about the future sales of MHT-106.
In fact, even if T2 participates in the competition, the result will not be any different. After trying out the -IA, the Algerians were full of praise for its powerful performance, and the price is also quite cheap, even cheaper than the second-generation tank T2 sold by the Soviets. The Algerians feel that even if several other pieces of equipment can be selected from the Soviet Union, there is absolutely no reason to abandon high-quality ones and choose inferior ones when it comes to main battle tanks. The main battle tank is the absolute king of land warfare. Having these powerful tanks can undoubtedly raise the power of the Afghan army to several levels.
Counting the cost of some scattered accessories such as ammunition, the three orders were combined, and the quotation given by China was US$6.2 billion. Only then did Algeria understand why many countries in the world are saying that Chinese weapons are of high quality and low price. In terms of delivery time, in addition to the relatively long production cycle of helicopters, China, which has strong army vehicle manufacturing capabilities, can deliver the tanks and armored vehicles needed by the Qi's Army within one or two years, which is an unexpected surprise.
Although the order that Zhao Jinsong ran out is much smaller than the orders from the United States and Saudi Arabia, if compared to another dimension, China rarely receives orders of hundreds of millions of dollars, and we can know that the current national military trade What kind of status does it have. Qi Yiming also rewarded Zhao Jinsong with a sales commission of US$1 million. Without his efforts, this money would never have been earned. What's more, China's arms trade is really about small capital and big profits, and each enterprise will definitely receive a lot of profits.
The other business was from an old customer who came to me on his own. Iran has just finished the Iran-Iraq war. Although the people's livelihood in the country is in decline, it is still gritting its teeth and looking for China to purchase a new batch of weapons for the defense of the region. Their weapons were selected to have defensive and deterrent properties, so China had no worries and opened the door to exports.
What surprised Qi Yiming was that Iran not only turned to China to buy military products, but also turned to China to import a large number of industrial machinery, mainly focusing on heavy machine tools, petroleum equipment and other industrial equipment that are no cheaper than armaments. At this time, Iran still had an embargo on its head, and the prices of these equipment in countries such as the United States, Germany, and Japan were still relatively expensive. When they learned that China also sold similar products, the Iranians felt that Chinese products were famous for their high quality and low price, so they decided to purchase them from China. goods.